Do consistent government policies lead to greater meaningfulness and legitimacy on the front line?

Abstract

We investigate the impact of policy consistency on frontline workers' perceptions of policy meaningfulness and legitimacy. The results from an experiment involving 779 teachers indicate that policy consistency does have a positive effect on legitimacy and to a lesser extent on meaningfulness. However, the extent depends on policy content and the degree of autonomy. Overall, our findings emphasize the potential positive impact of policy consistency.Although this, to some extent, conflicts with the nature of political decision-and policy-making (i.e., democratically elected governments have been mandated to change policy), our study suggests that policy consistency could be a valuable strategy for governments to strengthen successful policy implementation. This adds a new perspective to the continuing debate within policy implementation and street-level bureaucracy research on how to account for the complex, messy and sometimes contradictory implementation of public policies.

Employees’ Change Support in the Public Sector—A Multi‐Time Field Study Examining the Formation of Intentions and Behaviors

“…Moreover, it is argued that organizational changes should not be regarded as a simple technical issue, but rather are socially complex in their implementation (Fullan 2016). Taking into account that change recipients are more than “neutral implementers” van Engen, Steijn, and Tummers (2019 they are more likely to have a favorable, 2) increases the relevance of micro‐level approaches to studying change in the public administration context.…”

“…Research on public sector reform and change also suggests that policymakers are dependent on the willingness and support of front‐line employees for the successful implementation of new change programs and policies (Ahmad et al. 2019a; van Engen et al 2019). It is also argued that the actual behavior of these recipients during change implementation may not necessarily align with the policy‐makers’ ambitions (May and Winter 2009).…”

“…Hence, the implementation of public sector reforms needs to consider and foster the support of change recipients (Isett et al 2013). This is especially true given that front‐line employees have the ability to create major difficulties for top‐down change programs (van Engen et al 2019).…”

Red tape and change-supportive intention: an extension of the theory of planned behavior

“…Red tape is generally seen as ineffective rules (Bozeman and Feeney, 2011) and needless, wasteful, self-serving and tiring procedure (Scott and Pandey, 2000). This implies that better understanding of how the organizational setting shapes employee perception of rules can help leaders promote positive work attitudes and performance (Campbell, 2017) because support and willingness of change recipients and front-line employees are crucial for the successful implementation of organizational change (van Engen et al ., 2019). Therefore, this study suggests that public organizations need to reduce red tape by minimizing the rules and regulations that are not worth much but extra work and pressure for employees.…”

Machine Learning Algorithms for Big Data Applications With Policy Implementation

“…As for the resources, the effective implementation of the policy is highly related to the promotion of regional stability and the diffusion of democracy (Samhat, 2000). Furthermore, van Engen et al (2019) have also wondered whether the policy consistency via frontline workers' perceptions could be a valuable strategy for successful policy implementation.…”